Robotech: Future Past
by Gobstein
Summary: Six Months after the events of the Shadow Chronicles, the Ark Angel suffers a mishap midfold that leaves the ship stranded in the past well before the Rain of Death. Now facing an unfamiliar Earth and armed with Foreknowledge, they will brave the odds and try to avoid Humanity's darkest day.
1. Prologue

Now, before I begin I wanted to say a few things.

This marks a return to my roots. Robotech is something dear to me and a franchise I've spent a lot of time watching arguing and writing. that said, I am no fan of Shadow Chronicles, it is not bad, but it is neither good, it felt dry to me and rushed, not to mention that rewriting the last episode didn't struck well with me, but it is canon now for good or ill. But I will take a page out of macross... all we have seen, the series, movies, etc? they are dramatizations, things happened more or less like depicted, but the details are different.

So for instance, the Edwards incident was a full on civil war, and while Grant did capture the Icarus from Edwards, it wasn't after a one versus one combat, it was a fleet action, the climatic action of the REF Civil war.

Now, moving on, I've decided that basic robotechnology is independent of protoculture, the higher level stuff needs it, but a REFEX furnace is some sort of fusion reactor for this fic. and all the Early VFs, destroids and the like use some sort of micro fusion reactors. they are less performing than protoculture, far less performing, but it is the one explanation I can make use of.  
Keep in mind that the RDF or the UEDF, if you prefer, had no knowledge of the matrix (or else they wouldn't have used the SDF-1 as a sacrificial lamb or would have moved it to say Alaska base) and there are so many stores of protoculture the SDF-1 would be carrying, if at all, and would make little sense to use them on VFs, Destroids, Fighters, tanks... or even capital ships. it is something you would hoard till you were in position to acquire more and use it only in the things that really, really need it, say a fold drive (I am no fan of the monopole ore and the good origin to the Zentraedi... they are meant to have been breed for war, damnit), for instance.  
It is my theory, but I am willing to debate it.

* * *

Six months had passed since the disappearance of the SDF-3. But for Captain Vincent Grant it might as well have been a lifetime.

The situation was a grim; the Battle of Reflex Point and the following Haydonite betrayal had cost humanity dearly. The loss of the deep space factory, Liberty, and a large portion of the RDF fleet were grievous wounds.

But the worst thing was the loss of the protoculture matrix with the SDF-3. With the Regess having taken all the protoculture on Earth with her when the Invid the fuel state for the remains of the fleet was precarious to say the least.

Worse, there was the matter of the sealed orders from Reinhardt he really didn't want to think about.

First Fleet was to all intents and purposes gone with at the most five hulls left. Second Fleet, the most intact and homogeneous force, was spread all over the place trying to protect the local cluster. Lastly the small Third Fleet was guarding Tirol like a rabid dog. That last fleet was, ironically, the most numerous, but it was very much a paper tiger. Composed of older vessels, manned by Tirolians with no real experience of war, and, ironically, were protecting their only chance of recreating the matrix.

He was sure, given time, the team led by Rem and Cabel would succeed, they had done it once before after all. But that assumed the Haydonites gave them that time.

Speaking of the Haydonites, nobody had seen hide nor hair of them in the last six months. They were probably playing the waiting game, in Vince's opinion, after all it was only a matter of time till the protoculture supplies ran out making them easy prey for the cybernetic creatures.

Yes, there were crash research programs trying to downgrade protoculture to the base necessities, switching back to fusion, or looking for an alternative power source.

The former that was delaying the inevitable, not to mention that without protoculture there was no competing with the Haydonite's warforms, their drones, or their warships. Even with protoculture the matter was... up for debate.

And the latter... the later was wishful thinking at best. Protoculture had been, in many ways, like penicillin, a lucky find by a man smart to know what he was seeing.

It was a bad situation all around and getting worse by the day.

And here came in Grant's mission, to try and locate the missing battlefortress and its protoculture matrix. It showed how bad the warship situation was that the Ark Angel was the only ship tasked full time to the mission

"Captain" warrant officer Eliss Gautier spoke from the air control station "Viper Squadron has been recovered."

Malechor Five, another dead end.

Following a ship's trail through hyperspace wasn't impossible. The Zentraedi had done the same with the SDF-1 thirty years ago; but it was hardly an exact science and involved a lot of guess work. False positives were an annoying common occurrence. And with the SDF-3 the origin point of a black hole only made the problem worse as the hyperspace vector was even more scrambled than normal. So scrambled in fact that even the advanced Tirolian sensors were having difficulties tracking the battlefortress down.

On the flip side, they had been able to resupply with ease, the one perk of the criticality of the mission.

"Mister Nichols, are we ready to depart?"

"Uh... yeah, we are, whenever you give the order" his chief engineer replied, somewhat hesitatingly, probably biting down some colorful remark.

"Consider the order given." he said looking towards the holodisplay before him.

"Ah, good, ah, clock is set to T-30 seconds."

"All hands, All hands, ready for fold operations" stated the monotone voice of the ship's computer.

And the clock started to count down, once it reached zero, an iridescent bubble extended around the ship and in a flash of light they banished from normal space.

A hyperspace fold was quite an astounding method of achieving FTL, it warped space to diminish the distance between two points significantly, and then it translated the ship into hyperspace to traverse the rest. That was the norm for long distance folds. Short range ones could be handled as a normal fold, but for the long range ones that was the way to go. It was safe, it was a proven tech, with thousands of years of research and refinement and then everything went wrong.

Suddenly there was an impact and the distortion experienced by the fold changed and warped. The bridge was bathed by red lights and an alert klaxon started to sound.

"Status!" Barked Vincent Grant.

"Fold sphere has been compromised, we are reversing." replied Dr. Nichols, as he and his assistant, wrestled with their terminals. "Got an error cascade a mile long and getting bigger by the moment."

"Anything we can do?"

"I am trying to compensate, but I think I can... yes I can compensate somewhat, I am... fuck."

That rose a few eyebrows, to say the least, Nichols never cursed, but then there was no time for anything else.

And then as abruptly as it started, it ended. There was a flash a detonation and the bridge's viewports now showed normal space with a blue planet dominating in the foreground.

A very familiar looking blue planet

"What the..." Grant turned towards his chief engineer, "Louie where are we."

"I..."

"Sir, I am getting multiple pings, they seem like targeting sensors. Tracking them back to source..." started the sensor officer "Sir, targets acquired, Armor Analogue one though three and what the hell?" she continued, "Sir! IFF recognized, Armor 5, 7 and 11 and... the hell? Switching to diagnostic mode."

"Louie..." Grant asked.

Louie Nichols for his part turned towards his assistant, "Janice, is this, you are seeing..."

"Yes Doctor, you are right." the android replied.

"Captain, I think it is not a question of where but when"

* * *

*just in case, page break*

For Donald Hayes, this was a day of celebration. It was the launch day of the SDF-1, the dawning of a new era for mankind. The ship had become a symbol of how humanity could come together when in need, how they could turn from petty conflicts and unite for a higher purpose, and also because it was his daughter's first posting, he was a proud parent, after all.

Hell, he'd loved to be over at Macross Island, hot, tropical, Macross Island, instead of cold Alaska, seeing, with proud parent's eyes as his daughter's first assignment got underway. But, not for the first time, his duties came first.

It was a calm day, skeleton shifts over the stations, most of the crews off duty or at the commons watching the show, until all short range sensors went insane.

"Emergence wave detected, high orbit," the computer intoned.

"Target acquired over Italy in a geosync orbit" informed one of the many techs in the command center.

Donald looked down towards the tech's station looking at the data for the contact, it was big, bigger than the SDF-1.

"How is the launch status of the SDF-1?" he asked the same tech.

"Ninety minutes out, the soonest," was the quick reply.

Inwardly, Donald cursed. The planetary defense network was still in its infancy, the Grand Cannon network was incomplete, hell even the Alaskan Grand Cannon was slated to be operational in ten weeks and the rest... the rest weren't even worth thinking about, too incomplete to even serve as the neural defense centers they were designed to be.

There had simply been too many items in the agenda and only so many hands, they had to compromise somewhere. Now it was proving to have been less than wise.

Or maybe not, it was one ship, a ship that dwarfed the already large SDF-1, all right, but only one and, who knew? They might even come in peace. Or they came looking after the lost ship Earth had decided to salvage, that would be ...awkward to explain, but it would be doable and would beat the alternative.

"Have Malta Command relay the first contact package... let's hope we can avoid a war." and he meant it too.

Of course there was a silver lining, the SDF-1 was on the other side of the world, if worse came to worse, he could order Gloval to launch more or less undetected and move to engage before things deteriorated too badly.

After all it was only one ship.

* * *

*just in case, page break*

"Louie?" asked Grant, trying to stay on top of things.

"Seems like an RDF First contact package... actually looks like the one we sent the Zentraedi." and was completely ignored, he didn't add.

"I need a date, Louie." Grant stated with a sigh, he was starting to grasp the enormity of their situation. Armor platforms only had a limited shelf life, as it where and if...

"I am working on it, with the orbits of the planets and the general position of the local group we could..."

"We could check on the local datanets, sir." interrupted Laura Voight, the senior Comm officer.

Vincent thought about it for a second. Louie was an excellent officer, even though he tended to overthink things, like now.

"Sure Laura, do that,"

"Defold reactions detected! Far side of the moon, number... I am getting a few hundred." the sensor tech paused for a second, "Zentraedi IFF detected ah... Sir... I think it is the Adalas escort fleet."

The Adalas fleet had been Zor's close escorts up to his death and the disappearance of the battlefortress. It had also been completely destroyed, save for its flagship, during Operation Minmei.

"Sound the general quarters" Vincent Grant said automatically, while, with dawning horror, he realized he knew the date... it was impossible, but it was the only explanation: February 20th 2009. The day the First Robotech War began.

He turned towards Laura Voight's station, "Transmit a we come in peace message to the UEG and inform them we aren't associated with the other fleet. Now!" he barked

"Eliss, put our squadrons on alert five but do nothing else, Louie, bring the pinpoint barrier online, and the omni on standby. Hanse, passive sensors only."

"Sir, message away!" replied Lt. Voight, "awaiting reply."

"Captain," Louie said shakily, "aren't you going to warn them about the boobytrap?"

"And say what? That their flagship is trapped? ...damnit," he said punching the armrest, "one day sooner, or a few more hours..." he paused for a second trying desperately to find an answer, "but you are right, Louie, we need to try."

He turned again towards the comms officer, "Laura, we need to get a connection to... I think Alaska Command is our best bet," that was Donald Hayes posting, if he recalled correctly. He was, from what Admiral Hunter said, a level headed man and someone who had a certain vested interest in the wellbeing of the SDF-1 and its crew.

"Working on it, Sir." was the one answer he got.

* * *

*just in case, page break*

"Several hundred contacts have been detected on the far side of the moon, Sir"

Right, he had to jinx it. One contact they could take, even if it was in high orbit. _Great Donald_, he thought, _now you really gone and done it_.

"Look at the size of that emergence wave," said Adm. Robert Stradford, his second in command, in amazement.

"I saw that Robert, what do you think?" Donald Hayes said turning towards his friend,

"Six more months, a year maybe..." came the hesitant reply, "thought they might come in peace."

"Yes, I know." he tried to reassure his executive officer, "but that is for the politicians, for us..." he started.

"Sir, I am detecting two contacts separating from the alien ships past lunar orbit, assigning codename bravo and delta, they are in an apparent intercept course towards the Earth." interrupted the ensign at a nearby control station.

But before they could reply to them, the senior tech interrupted, "Sir, I am getting tight beam transmission from the ship in orbit... it is in our encryption." he finished in disbelief.

"Let me look at that." Donald Hayes said as he leaned over the console. This was... bad, the scenarios were all grim, but having their communication security compromised so fast?

Donald shared a glance with his XO and then faced towards the tech "Open comms. Let's hope they do come in peace."

The screen flashed and in it appeared a man, dark skinned and middle aged in a white uniform. Again Donald gave a glance towards Robert trying to puzzle at the situation. Sure, they had known the crew of the visitor had been humanoid, but human? That was... unexpected, to say the least.

And then the man spoke

"Admiral Hayes, my name is Captain Vincent Grant of the UES_ Ark Angel_; we have no time. My ship suffered an accident in space fold and we seem to be... well... back in time."

Donald Hayes could only blink, that was preposterous, time travel? But he knew the cypher and he knew him, or knew of him, by name no less.

"That is a bold claim." Stated Adm. Stradford, his voice a bit shaken.

"It is, but what is more important is that we just detected the Zentraedi fleet that defolded on the far side of the moon, you need to warn the SDF-1, there is no time, sir, they must disable their main gun or else it will fire... it is a boobytrap left by the previous owner, sir."

"You are asking me to disable the main gun of my most powerful combatant, Captain Grant?" Donald seemed to recover the use of his throat, though his mouth seemed to be running on automatic, "On a day like this? What is next, going to ask me to stand down my forces?"

"I know how it sounds sir, but it will mean war otherwise."

Time seemed to slow down for Donald Hayes, it was an illusion, he knew, with his brain struggling to reach a solution, to decide if he believed the man on the screen or called him on his bluff. But it didn't take him long, that wasn't to say he believed the outlandish story of Captain Grant, not totally, not yet. It just meant it was impossible for him to ignore the possibility and he wasn't going to contemplate the alternative... they knew his posting, they knew him by name, they knew the cyphers and encryptions. No, it just wasn't possible.

"Ensign, open a channel to the SDF-1, warn them there might be a Trojan in their systems."

"You believe me, Admiral?" stated Captain Grant, a bit dubiously.

"I am not sure myself, Captain, but I..." he was getting convinced, it was either that or they were fully compromised and that was unthinkable. After all what would be the point of such a complete ruse?.

"Sir! Energy buildup detected in sector five, ah..." they turned towards the senior tech, dreading and knowing what would be the next words to be uttered, "SDF-1 is firing. Targets Bravo and Delta have gone silent."

Donald Hayes felt as if his blood had turned to ice, he glanced at the 'future' captain on the screen and then turned towards the senior tech.

"Get in touch with the SDF-1, request status." he sighed, fingering the missing pack of cigarettes he used to carry and then he turned towards Captain Grant "I suppose it is a moot point, but I believe you, Captain, anything else I should know?"

The man in the screen seemed to relax somewhat and paused for a second.

"Too many to mention, sir, but to begin with, perhaps you should warn the SDF-1 not to rely on the gravity drives for take off."

"Noted, anything else?" he said giving a meaningful glance to the nearby tech, who nodded in acknowledgment before turning back to his station.

"I... am not sure, it's been too long, but..." he seemed to pause, in deep thought, "I think, there are some things that we might be better off if they happen, but just in case, order the Daedalus and Prometheus to ready for dive ops."

"What?" that had been delightfully cryptic. _How lovely_, thought Hayes sarcastically.

"Sorry sir, I am trying to figure what is the best outcome for all of us."

That made Donald Hayes blink. He didn't know Grant and, still, wasn't quite convinced the man was speaking the truth, but if it was, it was the intelligence coup of the... well, ever. Preknowledge, for what long it lasted, and that was the issue, it wouldn't last long if there were too many deviations, but as long as it lasted...

"Admiral, a flotilla has split off the main enemy force, heading towards Earth." informed the senior tech.

"Send them the first contact package," Replied Hayes, frowning

"Sir?" came the obligatory question from the senior tech.

"It might be too late to avoid conflict, but not late enough for peace." he answered. It was a long shot, besides historians would likely pour over this day for years to come. They had to do things right, even if he felt were futile.

"Understood."

Donald Hayes Frowned, very futile, he thought before turning towards the comm screen, "Captain Grant, is there anything you can tell us about the enemy force?"

"I am forwarding you full data on the Zentraedi and their vessels," Captain Grant seemed to struggle with something, seemed like he wanted to continue but finally remained silent.

"I take it things aren't going to go our way," stated Donald Hayes with a grim smile on his face.

"I... Sir, the Zentraedi aren't foes you can take head on. They are literally breed for warfare and excel at it."

"So, you are saying we must surrender?" Hayes asked dangerously.

"No, sir, not at all, they can be beat, it is just that we lack the numbers to take them in direct combat."

"Good to know, I'd hate to send good men to their deaths otherwise." he stated, Grant, for his part, only nodded.

Admiral Hayes took a moment to study the sensor read out. There wasn't much he could do at this time, and even if they had the files from _Ark Angel_, well, they were out of time.

"Coulson, order second flotilla to intercept the enemy forces." said Admiral Hayes to the senior tech,

"Sir." Acknowledged Coulson from his station, "order sent."

"In the meantime, Captain Grant, I want you to stay put. Leave the bloody business to us. I'd recommend you reposition to a lower orbit, though."

Grant grimaced, but finally nodded. "Understood, sir." and cut the connection.

* * *

*just in case, page break*

"That's done," said Vince Grant to nobody in particular, "Now to face the music."

"I doubt there will be much music to face, Captain." cut in Dr. Nichols.

"Louie, sometimes I wonder whom of the two of you is the actual android." replied Grant.

"So, what now, Captain?" interrupted Janice Em.

'_What now?' that was a mighty good question_, Vince thought as he fidgeted in his seat, "Computer schedule a meeting, all senior officers, in briefing room A, ten minutes from now, and warn all attendees." He paused for a second, "Oh, and include Mrs. Bernard as well."

"Acknowledged," replied the monotone voice, "Meeting logged and all attendees have been warned."

He then turned to leave the bridge, "come on you two, we need to get going." he then turned to Commander Martinez, at the navigational station, "Brenda, you have the con."

"I have the con." Brenda replied crisply.

"You heard Hayes, take us to low orbit, and try to keep the Earth between us and the Zentradi. We don't want to call their attention, not yet."

"Understood, sir."

* * *

*just in case, page break*

It took, in reality, twenty minutes for all senior officers to reach the briefing room, the _Ark Angel_ was a big ship and even its mass transit system you could only move so fast. The first one in the room had been the Bernards, but when your missus could teleport, being late wasn't in the cards.

Vince grant looked at his people, and sighed, this was not going to be easy.

"At 0800 hours, ship time, we executed a routine fold out of Malechor Five towards Epsilon Indi. Somewhere during the hyperspace transition we experienced a mishap. The bad news, people, is that we experienced a misfold, the good news is that our fold drive is only in lock-down, but should be recoverable, correct, doctor?" he said motioning towards Louie Nichols.

"Ah, yes, it should take us about sixty hours to recover it, assuming we have all the parts, perhaps a hundred if we need to machine them." replied Dr. Nichols, fidgeting.

"The better news? We are on Earth orbit, somehow and, finally, the weird news, today's date is February 20th, 2009 yes you heard correctly." he deadpanned.

That killed the mood in short order, there were a few people openly gaping. Only Ariel Bernard seemed to be oblivious to the importance of the date.

And then the questions begun. All at once

"Enough people!" barked Grant, "to answer your questions, yes Breetai has arrived, yes we are in contact with RDF Command, no, I don't know if we can go back yet, that is Dr Nichols field, and no, the SDF-1 hasn't folded yet. More to the point in this moment, the battle for L1 is happening." he paused for a moment. That had been an ugly defeat, and lots of space hands had died... will die, were dying? Tenses were tricky things, but even with the intelligence he had provided... no, there was no chance.

"Why aren't we helping the flotilla at L1?" questioned Marie Duvall, the destroid battalion CO.

"Two reasons, Alaska command asked us to sit this one out. We are more valuable to them alive and even if we did, how much could we add to the battle? Our Legioss teams? Yes, we could do a number on Breetai's forces, and might even get lucky enough and kill him and Exedore. Do. We. Want. That?"

That seemed to put things in perspective, most of them had grown up hearing of Exedore and Breetai and they were too important for the REF and the RDF, after their defection.

And changing things too much would render most of their knowledge moot. There was no guarantee that whomever replaced Breetai and Exedore could fill their shoes or be willing and open to the diplomatic path... or would link up forces once it became clear Dolza considered them contaminated by micronian culture.

Too many ifs, they needed a focus point... and that came naturally.

"We should be thinking how to avoid or to diminish the Rain of Death, that, ladies and gentlemen, **that** should be our number one goal."

"That is a tall order, skipper," admitted, Captain Bernard, the ship's CAG.

There was a round of acknowledgments, and inwardly Vince agreed, but there were over six billion lives at stake and a planet-wide industrial complex that needed preserving, provided the more analytical part of his mind.

An intact-ish Earth would change the face of the Robotech Wars for the better and trillions of lives were on the stake. The truth was that the Robotech Masters needed to be stopped, the Regent destroyed and the Regis? He glanced at Ariel... well, they might just be able to negotiate with her.

Of course, that was still decades away... and they had to live through the apocalyptic days of the First Robotech War.

"That it is, Scott, but what options do we have?"

"Skipper, we have a problem," the voice of the senior bridge officer, Brenda Nigosky, was quite clear though the intercom system.

"How bad?" Vince asked.

"Very, we are tracking a second force though the p-sensors, they seem to be on an intercept course towards our previous orbit."

"They must have detected the emergence wave," stated Dr. Nichols.

"Probably," Vince acknowledged, then turned towards the senior officers, "Dismissed, we will continue this one latter, you all better get back to your stations ASAP."


	2. Chapter 1

Well Here we have the Second Chapter, Thanks goes to AndrewJamesWilliams for the top notch beta work.

Hope you guys can give me some feedback here.

* * *

"Status," Barked Captain Grant as he entered the bridge, with Dr. Nichols and Janice Em in tow.

"Bogies should crest the horizon in twenty five minutes." Stated Lt. Commander Nigosky.

After that, they would be in effective weapon and sensor range and the _Ark Angel_ was a big target. Odds they would be ignored? Astronomical.

"Contact Alaska Command, inform them of our situation, Lt. Voight."

"Understood."

"What is our status?"

"Gun crews report all turrets ready and waiting, all missile tubes are loaded but outer doors are still closed." reported Lt. Commander Paul Uribe, from the weapon station.

"Legioss teams?" queried the skipper.

"Legioss teams are armed and ready with conventional load outs." answered Eliss Gautier crisply.

"Too late to open the Reflex Lockers," lamented Grant, "And the Destroid teams?"

"Are being deployed as we speak," finished Warrant officer Gautier.

"Sir," Laura Voight interrupted, "Admiral Hayes is on the horn."

"Patch it thru."

The holo screen flickered and replaced raw data with the face of a man clad in an old fashioned UEGDF admiral's uniform. He was looking far more worn for wear than he had half an hour previous.

"Admiral," acknowledged Captain Grant, with a salute.

"Captain," replied Hayes, returning the salute. "It seems you were right, these Zentraedi aren't a force to take lightly."

"Agreed, however, I must inform you we have more pressing problems."

"Yes, your comm. officer informed us of the situation," said the older man, with a grimace. "How long till you are made?"

"We estimate ten minutes. Fifteen if we are lucky."

"Understood," Donald Hayes acknowledged. "There isn't much I can spare to support you, but the first flotilla should be able to link up with you before that."

"Much appreciated, Admiral."

"I'll patch him in into this conversation." he said before turning slightly off camera.

A few moments latter another image filled the holoscreen. A man in an old fashioned RDF uniform, with a rear admiral insignia.

"Rob," started Hayes, "This is Captain Grant of the _Ark Angel_. Captain Grant, this is Rear Admiral Robert Mattock."

"Ah, the captain of our mystery ship. A pleasure, I only wished circumstances were better."

"So do I Admiral." replied Captain Grant.

"I have my force in an intercept course to your current orbit, we should arrive in time, if only just." warned Mattock.

"Thank you."

"Let's leave the pleasantries for afterward," responded Admiral Mattock, "where do you want us?"

That actually surprised Vince, he had expected some reluctance from Mattock, taking orders from an unknown officer with a junior rank, no matter the oddity of the situation.

"Deploy in a perimeter around my ship, think your code is Alpine Six." Grant said, trying to recall the old codes.

"Understood, Captain," he said with a sigh, "anything you can tell me of the contacts?"

"We are currently tracking ten hulls in the enemy force, though that might change, will probably change," he amended, "we estimate a single heavy cruiser with nine sloops as escort."

"Smaller than the force that wiped out the second flotilla." interjected Mattock, in reference from the combat at L1.

"That it is, but keep in mind those ships might join us shortly."

"Not a happy thought, Captain."

"Not a happy situation, Admiral." countered Grant.

* * *

Commander Eekron Zolf paced though the length of his command pod. He had been the commander of the 537 Scout Flotilla, part of the Adalas fleet forward element, for the past four hundred cycles. Carrying out his duties with great skill and dedication, if he did say so himself.

The main reason for his success was his tendency to look beneath his orders, to read not just the letter of the orders like most Zentraedi, but to understand the reasoning behind them. It was unconventional – which had raised more than a few eyebrows among his fellow Zentraedi – but it got results.

Which brought him to his current set of orders, to investigate an emergence wave on the far side of the micronian planet. It seemed simple enough on paper but his instincts – which he had learned long ago to trust – were saying that something was well off. Wasn't right.

Which was more than a little strange. The locals were a bunch of primitive micronians. Normally it was something he wouldn't linger about, micronians just... were, and were generally left to their own devices; they stayed on their planets and bothered no one.

But these micronians were perhaps the oddest of their kind that he had ever heard of. First, they had allegedly repaired Zor's battlefortress – something which he would have thought to be impossible for such a primitive species to do but done it they had. Second they had built a small flotilla of ships, very simple and poorly commanded ships, but armed well enough that they had been able to bloody the nose of the 546th as it moved towards the L1.

That had been a surprise.

And then Command had detected the emergence wave and surprise became concern.

He understood that concern, Commander Breetai's concern. There was a very narrow chance these micronians had been able to accomplish these task on their own. But it was more likely that they hadn't which that meant foreign support from another power. That meant a number of names no Zentraedi would speak casually, like the Disciples of Zor. The same group command suggested had murdered Zor and commandeered his battelfortress in the first place.

But that was all just speculation and wild guessing, they needed facts. That meant doing a very careful sweep of the planet, particularly the area near the emergence wave that was, currently, hidden from most forms of active scanning by the planet itself.

Hence this mission.

"Status?" he barked. Right now the scouting elements of his force were crossing the horizon.

"Saldus 78214 has visual on the emergence wave area. No contacts to report, yet."

"Keep me appraised." he acknowledged.

"Yes, Commander."

_Curious and curiouser, _he thought. His eyes went back to the holoscreen showing the sensor returns. He had expected something, the emergence wave was very, very fresh and very loud, and there wasn't any form of immersion wave either. Whatever it had been had defolded there and hadn't folded again.

His eyes wandered back to the planet... it could be hiding there, under the clouds or beneath waters, for instance. A risky maneuver, but not unheard of. Now if only he could...

"My Lord, _Saldus_ _78214_ reports contact."

"On screen."

It was a strange vessel, bigger than his own Thuverl Salan, easily more massive, but he didn't recognize it and neither did the expert system.

It also was surrounded by a micronian flotilla. No, not surrounded, escorted. Those ships were in a tight formation, perhaps too tight for his tastes, then again the micronians had shown themselves to be rank amateurs at space warfare, so far. This had just become more complex, not unexpectedly so, at least a part of him expected something of the like. But an unknown ship?

He needed to call that in. The doctrine was clear on that.

"All ships stop on station," he commanded. So far only _Saldus_ _78214_, a simple short range Quel-Quallie scout, was exposed, and either it hadn't been detected or it was left alone for some reason he couldn't fathom.

And now for the tricky part.

"Open a comm channel to the Command Ship" he ordered the expert system.

And with that the image of the alien vessel as replaced with another of Breetai's command pod.

"Commander Breetai," he stated, saluting his superior.

"Commander Zolf." replied his lord.

"I believe we have located the mystery ship."

"Indeed?" Breetai said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, I am forwarding the image to you," Zolf said, bowing slightly.

"Hmmm..." the larger Zentraedi seemed to be deep in thought as an image of the unknown vessel appeared before him, "An unusual configuration."

"Indeed, it matched no known design in our databases."

"Actually, it does resemble the micronian ships... up to a point," interjected Exedore as he too studied the image.

"Indeed, perhaps it is their version of a Battlefortress?" suggested Breetai.

"Hmmm... it could be, however I do not believe that to be the case, it seems to lack any obvious Reflex Cannons. Then there is the matter of why would they hold it in reserve, perhaps it is a Landing Ship? Unless..." hesitated Exedore.

"Yes?" Breetai asked, somewhat impatiently.

"It could be that we caught the ship returning from a mission, the emergence wave is fresh."

"And thus it would be critically low on combat supplies or fuel," completed Breetai as he massaged his chin.

"Precisely, however, I should note this is simple speculation." noted Exedore.

"Indeed, we need more information." the larger Zentraedi said turning towards the screen. "Commander Zolf, I am ordering you to engage this second micronian force, priority target is to be the unknown vessel, secondary targets the micronian ships themselves. This is to be a probing attack, do not over commit, commander."

"It shall be done."

* * *

"Targets will crest the horizon in T-60 seconds."

Vince Grant grimaced, here it came. The Spacy ships that were 'escorting' him were now in a tight formation, with his ship in the lead. Tight for space combat was a relative term, there were kilometers from one ship to the next, but they were close enough they could hide behind the _Ark Angel_'s omnidirectional barrier if the need arose.

Surprisingly Mattock had put him in overall command, citing his own lack of experience and Vince's familiarity with the enemy's strengths and tactics.

It wasn't the first time he was in overall command, he had been Commodore of a small task force during the Edwards Rebellion, but it paled in comparison to the seriousness of the situation.

"I want all gunnery crews ready and firing solutions on the lead ship as soon as it crests."

"Understood."

"Patch me through to Mattock." he said to Lt. Voight.

A moment latter a small holoscreen popped up before him showing the RDF Admiral.

"So?" he asked

"Any second now." replied Vince as he drummed his fingers on his armrest. The plan was simple, they would fire the main particle cannons while launching a massive missile barrage. The beams were there to force the enemy fleet to close ranks so that when the missiles arrive they would, in turn, saturate the forward elements with Reflex warheads and just as the heavy cruiser broke though, if it broke though, they would fire on it with all anti-ship particle cannons, a basic decapitation strike. It was a functional plan, possible only because the enemy was moving on a mostly 2d pattern due to the closeness of the planet.

But as far as Grant was concerned, sometimes you caught lucky breaks.

"Sir, Target Epsilon-two has crested" informed Hanse Sandoval, the senior sensor operator. That was a theater scout, a small 84m long vessel better known to the RDF as a '_Cyclops_'. It was only the sensitivity of Tirolian sensors that let them track such a, relatively speaking, small and stealthy target from the other side of the planet.

Any moment now. He felt all the doubts and hesitations, for a moment and then he dismissed them with a deep breath, it was the right plan.

"Targets have stopped moving and are holding station on grid quadrant A-265, Z178"

"What?" both he and Mattock said at the same time.

Both men looked at one another though their comm screens. Things had changed.

It was Vince who reacted first.

"Stay in the same formation, if we move now they'll know they've been had." he said, "Besides our orbit is taking us away from them as we speak."

"So we 'fly casual'" replied Robert Mattock with a small grin.

Vince blinked twice, it took him a few moments to get the reference but when he did, he cracked a smile and nodded. "I'd say more like orbit casual, but a few station keeping thrusts to keep us pointed in the right direction wouldn't be out of place," he added with a small predatory smile.

"Understood." replied Mattock, with a similar smile.

It didn't take long before the tension was broken once more by Warrant Officer Hanse Sandoval.

"Captain, we have incoming, I am reading three sloops moving again, heading 047, same orbit."

"Only those three?" questioned Vince.

"Them three sir, but I am also detecting a diffuse cloud, probably a formation of Gnerls at point."

"Understood," he turned towards the air control station, "Eliss, ready to vector in our flyboys towards the cloud."

"Understood, sir," she replied, "Air compliment is deployed and standing by."

"Omega one is cresting." added Sandoval, "Detecting sensor ping, they are trying to paint us."

"Janice," he said turning towards the resident android, "make their lives miserable."

Since coming aboard, Janice Em had to fight an uphill battle to integrate into the crew, she was of Haydonite technology, if only in part. It was an ongoing struggle, but one that, after six months, that lessened somewhat. She had, however found her place as the ship electronic warfare officer. Not only could she interface directly with the computer system, diminishing reaction times, but she had a natural knack for it too.

Vince closed his eyes for a second, wishing there could be another way, but there was no talking to the Zentraedi, no response to the first contact packages or to the radio pleas, just indifference and silence. He knew the Zentraedi had probably decided to ignore them, contact from micronians was to be shunned, under normal circumstances; they were only thinking of neutralizing the defense forces and retrieving the battlefortress.

And he couldn't permit that. The Robotech Masters couldn't be allowed to have that ship, nor the protoculture matrix it carried. No matter the cost they had to be stopped.

"All ships, follow fire plan A-16," he exclaimed, "fire at will!"

The _Ark Angel_ was a storied vessel. She had begun her life as an Ark Class colony ship, one of the dozens built at the Factory Satellite and at Space Station Liberty once it become operational.

During her trials, a thruster misfire had caused her to collide against the scaffolding of Space Station Liberty and suffered heavy damage starboard amidships. It had been a serious incident and had resulted on a lengthy investigation before the ship was prepped for repairs.

During the repairs the hull had been given over from the colonization division to the R&D department who was toying with the idea of an arsenal ship and had decided that, of the existing hulls, the_ Ark Angel_ would be the best testbed.

They had removed habitation areas and increased the number of factories and storage areas, cutting down civilian capacity to nearly 50%, to around 50.000 civilians, in the stern city sections only.

They had also added point defense batteries, missile tubes and anti-ship batteries, especially a pair of massive Tribeam Turrets to the sides. Those turrets represented the heaviest particle cannons, short of a Reflex or a Syncro cannon, in the human arsenal.

There had been work done to include a forward firing Reflex Cannon as well, mounted in the style of a Zentraedi monitor, but regretfully the construction was halted before completion, due in part to the availability of the new Syncro Cannon technology and in part because the biggest backer of the project had been none other than General T.R. Edwards.

After that, she had languished in dock until Vince had commandeered her.

Ironic, it was the second ship he had commandeered from Edwards, one way or the other.

In short, while number of turrets was a bit anemic compared to a ship of an approximate tonnage (for instance a Super Dimensional Fortress or a Zentraedi Nupetiet Vergnitzs command ship) it was still a powerhouse and it was that arsenal that had zeroed in on the lead Tou Redir Zentraedi sloop, known to its fleet as _Hisho 7825_.

The results were quite impressive. Beams from both heavy turrets (known as Able and Bravo) and most of the in-range anti-ship turrets, struck true against the ship's thin, by Zentraedi standards, bow armour. Instantly the armour vapourised allowing the powerful beams to slice into the vessel, eviscerating the superstructure with frightening ease. The ships mortally wounded reflex furnaces gave way and the vessel erupted into a fireball.

The rest of the flotilla, sixteen Oberth Missile Destroyers and Three Armor Platforms, had concentrated on Omega two, better known as _Hisho 7820_, with similar results, perhaps not quite as spectacular or as quick as the demise of the _7825_, it took two barrages and allowed the _7820_ to return fire, damaging the Oberth '_Galileo_' quite badly, but died shortly after as the slower reflex missiles finally reached the target.

It had been a limited barrage of missiles, fifteen in total, but all of them had reflex warheads, of which eleven fell to the point defense system. The already mangled hull was, however, unable to absorb any more damage and broke into small fragments as the sun dawned four times along the length of its battered hull.

The third target,_ Sosho 1785_, had been able to fire a few times, scoring a few hits on the _Ark Angel_, however all beams were intercepted by the ships' pin-point barrier system and then the missiles from the _Ark Angel_ reached it.

These were conventional payloads, mostly plasma explosives, but a capital warhead was nothing to sneeze at and the missiles weren't designed as contact warheads, but as penetrators designed to pierce into the hull of the ship before detonating.

The end result was nothing short of amazing. _Sosho 1785_ failed to break up, but she ended up looking a battered ruin, a complete loss of a hull, in a slowly decaying orbit.

And then the only the Gnerls were left.

Zentraedi doctrine didn't put much thought into smallcraft, outside of, perhaps, the Quadrano power armor, they were meant to be auxiliars, functioning as a screening force, engaging their equals in fleet engagements, and supporting landing elements in amphibious ops.

They weren't to be discounted, however. The Gnerl was a good, agile fighter, capable of considerable damage even to capital ships if present in sufficient numbers.

There were 150 of them in approach towards the 1st flotilla and the _Ark Angel_.

They were too small and too agile for the main batteries of the _Ark Angel_, however, she also had a number of dual purpose secondary pulse particle turrets spread all over her hull. Capable of a high firing rate, as well a considerable range, the turrets let loose their barrage, as the ship turned to show them their starboard, to allow more of the secondary batteries to engage the incoming fighter swarm.

The ships second flotilla opened fire as well, letting loose a missile spread as well as well as beam spam, but, like the _Ark Angel_ held the fighter wings in reserve, hoping to use them to intercept any Gnerl lucky, or unlucky enough to survive the gauntlet of fire.

* * *

Zolf watched in disbelief as the first sloop division of his 537th was slaughtered in short order. The fighters were still en route, but it was a done thing. They wouldn't change the outcome of the battle.

He had expected to lose those ships, but he had miscalculated the power of the alien vessel.

Yes, it might have lacked a reflex cannon, but it had more than enough firepower in those hellishly big particle cannons to make up for it. Far superior rate of fire as well.

He was about to commit the second and third division of his forces when a holoscreen popped up before him.

"I have seen enough, Zolf, return to the fleet." Breetai stated.

"Sir?" Zolf said in unsure.

"That ship, as interesting as it might be, is not our target, Zor's battlefortress is, for now." was his lord's reply.

"Understood." Zolf finally acknowledged, the matter wasn't done, not yet, but at there was going to be time for it, afterward. With that the screen disappeared.

He turned a last glance towards the ongoing battle, only to see the last remaining Gnerls shot down well away from the alien vessel or its micronian escorts. No, the matter wasn't finished, but he lacked the means to do anything to that Alien Battlefortress... not yet.

* * *

There were a few cheers in the bridge of the _Ark Angel_ as the last of the Zentraedi Gnerl fighters were destroyed. Vince knew better, those pilots had never stood a chance, and neither had the sloops themselves. What did puzzled him was why they had only send those three in. yes, it was a probing attack, but why stop at three ships?

His mind was in overdrive trying to see if he had overplayed his hand. There were few instances in Zentraedi doctrine where you left an enemy be, and most of those didn't spell anything good for the enemy itself. Unless they had decided they wanted his ship intact as well?

No, odds were that Breetai was planning something.

"Shall we pursue?" asked Mattock from one of the holoscreens.

"No, I don't want to clue them on our sensor range, just yet," he sighed, "I think we might have done too much already."

"I don't understand."

"Zentraedi never retreat," Vince explained.

"They seem to be doing that right now," Mattock commented.

"They might seem to, but I frankly doubt it, they've been recalled," replied the future captain.

"Recalled?" Mattock said, rising an eyebrow.

"Admiral, do keep in mind that they're here for the SDF-1, we are just a sideshow." he hesitated, "of course, we might have just graduated into a secondary target."

"You say it as if it were a bad thing, Captain." Edwin Mattock commented.

"Because it is, you don't have an idea of the scope of the Zentraedi forces. This is nothing to them, loosing those three ships was routine. Hell, even if they'd have committed all vessels it would have been acceptable losses for a probing attack."

"So you are saying we are that outnumbered?" asked the admiral.

"It is probably worse than what you imagine, Admiral, their fleet's number in the thousands and the hulls? In the millions. We are not only outnumbered, we are facing an enemy that considers even cruisers as ammunition." Vince replied, calmly.

"Then how do you propose we fight them?" Mattock questioned hesitantly, "Can we fight them?"

"No enemy is unbeatable, they have their weaknesses. They can be beaten, bit it will take guile, not brawn to survive this thing."

"Good,"he said before turning from the screen for a few seconds, "Captain, I am getting reports that the SDF-1 has finished its orbital burn, they are approaching what is left of the Second Flotilla. Perhaps we should join them?"

"Where are they surfacing?"

"Sector E-15" that was near the tropic of Capricorn, not far from Macross island, just like in his timeline and very much in range of the Zentraedi fleet beyond the far side of the moon.

"I think..."

But Hanse Sandoval interrupted him "Sir, I am detecting energy buildups beyond lunar orbit."

"Reflex Cannons?" Vince asked, with concern.

"No sir, just primary batteries, from the readings, it is still a whole lot of them." replied the senior sensor tech.

Vince gave an inward sign of relief. So things were still moving more or less as he remembered them. Good.

"Admiral, what is the status of the second flotilla?" Vince asked the holoscreen.

"They seem to be under heavy fire," he paused for a second, "shit! They are reporting heavy casualties and the SDF-1 is diving back into the planet."

"There is nothing we can do for them right now, can you command the survivors to link up with us?"

"And Gloval?" questioned the Admiral.

"He has a plan, if things go as they did, it is not going to work, but it will have positive results for all of us" I think, he added in his mind. He really wished this was the right thing to do.

* * *

"An atmospheric fold," exclaimed a stunned Exedore, "why, that should have been impossible."

"Agreed, I am getting more and more convinced that the battlefortress is being crewed by micronians."

"Yes, that doesn't match with existent Disciple doctrine,"

"I will go further, no experienced space hand would even try for an atmospheric fold."

"That much is true, however they couldn't have gone very far."

"That is true, Exedore." agreed Breetai.

"There is however another matter..." started Exedore.

"The matter of the alien ship." completed Breetai.

"Quite, there is something that is not quite right with that vessel."

"Beside's the point it has localized defense barriers?" Questioned the Zentraedi Commander. Only the Masters' ships possessed that technology, and then only in the massive motherships, not even the frontier fleets had them.

"There is that," Exedore nodded, "however, there is something off; something I quite can't put into words." the Advisor hesitated.

"That is unlike you, Exedore,"

"I apologize, but I am, quite frankly, unsure. It is a powerful vessel, more so than the micronians we've faced thus far."

"But, you yourself said it, the ship has the same lettering on its hull as the micronian ships." Breetain countered. "Unless you are suggesting there is a link between them and the Disciples of Zor?"

"No, I don't think so, if there were, their doctrine would have been more robust, same with their vessels."

"Then perhaps an unknown faction?" wondered the Zentraedi commander.

"That is my concern." admitted Exedore.

"Something new," said Breetai almost to himself. It had been some time since he had faced new enemies.

"Possibly." stated the Zentraedi adviser.

Breetai nodded before crossing his arms before him. "We need to track the Battlefortress that is our mission," he stated, "However, I feel we can't ignore that ship either."

"Hmmm... are you suggesting we destroy it?" asked Exedore, unsure.

"Tempting, but if it represents something new..." responded Breetai.

"Yes, I understand." agreed Exedore, if it was something new they needed to know more about it, simply destroying it would accomplish little in the long term and it was thinking long term what won campaigns.

"Good, then I will leave the 2nd Battalion behind, they do need to lick their wounds after that little tussle."

"They are going to need a new commander," supplied Exedore, during the battle at the L1 the command ship had been one of the ships lost, it was regrettable, but that was the fortunes of war.

"Yes," Breetai paused for a second, in thought, "Perhaps Eekron Zolf?"

"His is a scout flotilla," noted Exedore.

"Yes, but he has seniority and," Breetai smirked, "their task is more akin a scout flotilla's duty than a fleet unit."

"Conceded," agreed Exedore, "Rules of Engagement?"

"Like I said, watch and learn. Though perhaps they ought to do a small run on that L5 facility, no point leaving it be."

"It is a micronian facility," cautioned Exedore, there were unwritten rules within the Zentraedi doctrine about leaving the micronians be, that implied their things as well, though most didn't venture past their planets atmosphere. Of course, they had already ignored that rule quite a bit in the name of expedience and a bit more wouldn't hurt anyone, still it was Exedore's place to remind his commander of the situation.

"Yes, you are right, however if that ship approaches the facility, it should be fair game." replied Breetai.

"Agreed," Exedor said, nodding.

"Good," Breetai said with a smirk, "prepare the rest fleet for fold, we are going after the battlefotress, search pattern Epreak, they couldn't have gone too far given the diameter of the fold bubble. In the mean time I will contact Zolf, and give him his new marching orders, I am sure he will be quite ecstatic."


End file.
